Chinese Douyin live streamer dies after drinking too much baijiu, too quickly
A live streamer in China lost drinking battles against other streamers and then apparently lost his life after drinking yet more alcohol as a forfeit.
The live streamer based in Jiangsu surnamed Wang, but more popularly known by his online moniker Brother Three Thousand, was found dead in his apartment on May 16, a friend said to Chinese media.
He was last seen online in one of his videos the previous night, chugging four bottles of the potent baijiu, a colourless Chinese clear grain liquor with an alcohol content that ranges from 35 to 60 per cent.
In his final stream on the video-sharing platform Douyin, the 34-year-old can be seen pouring out some baijiu onto a table and lighting it on fire, seemingly to show its authenticity, before chugging the rest of the bottle. He did the same for another three bottles in quick succession, reportedly as a forfeit after losing drinking battles to other streamers, who competed on the speed and quantity of drinking.
Wang’s viewers said he drank at least seven bottles of a popular baijiu that night.
One of Wang’s friends – a man known as Mr Zhao, who was seen in his past videos feasting and drinking with Wang – told Chinese media the live streamer’s lifeless body was found around 1pm, around 12 hours after the final streamed video. Mr Zhao suspected his friend had also been drinking before he started the streaming.
Wang was cremated on Saturday, Chinese media reported. In a video Mr Zhao shared to mourn Wang, he wished “there would be no (live-stream) challenges and baijiu in heaven”.
Wang had multiple accounts on the video-sharing platform shut down, likely for reasons related to his online boozing. Douyin bans content creators from drinking during their live streams. But Wang would create new accounts – his latest account had around 44,000 followers.
In a previous video, Wang can be heard promising to consume a large amount of baijiu once donations from viewers reached the target he set.
Wang’s death, apparently as a result of his binge-drinking live streams, once again turns the spotlight on how some live streamers perform dangerous stunts in efforts to earn more monetary “gifts” from their viewers.
In 2021, a Chinese influencer died after being egged on by her viewers to drink pesticide in a live stream.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now